Bears continue dominance on Nigerian bourse as Index down 0.28% Wednesday

The bears continued to dominate trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as the marker All-Share Index (ASI) dipped further by 0.28 per cent, to 37,499.07 points, amidst continued selloffs on Wednesday.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses increased to 2.04 per cent and 1.95 per cent, respectively.

Selloffs of UNILEVER (-6.82%), FO (-10.00%), CCNN (-3.33%), and WAPIC (-8.00%) stocks, caused the losses in the Consumer Goods (+1.61%), Oil & Gas (+0.78%), Industrial Goods (-0.52%), and Insurance (-0.42%) indices.

However, returns turned positive for the Banking (+0.57%) index, owing to resurfaced interests in ZENITHBANK (+1.25%) and GUARANTY (+1.01%) shares.

Market breadth remained negative, albeit by an improved margin, with 22 losers and 21 gainers, led by FO (-10.00%) and MAYBAKER (+9.76%) respectively. Total volume and value of trades continued to rise, surging by 96.49% and 18.08% to 505.74 million units and NGN3.13 billion respectively. Total deals stood at 3,906 deals.

Analysts at Cordros Capital have this to say on the market situation: “In our view, the continued selloffs call for cautious trading among investors, amidst absence of a near-term one-off positive catalyst in the short to medium term. However, still-positive macroeconomic fundamentals remain supportive of gains in the long term”.